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Biomedical subjects

Cyril Chantler

Publications and source records attributed to Cyril Chantler.

6 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2003

The view of the General Medical Council.

Information about a patient's health is recorded in order to provide for that patient's care. Most patients will not think about the other uses for their data and many assume that the information they provide will go no further than the health care professionals who have been caring for them. Information collected about patients is essential for developments in our understanding of health and health care. Most patients will be happy to allow their data to be used for these purposes, once this has been explained. Health care professionals have an obligation to ensure that patients know when identifiable data about them are to be used and to get their agreement about making disclosures. We know that this is not easily achieved; doctors, nurses and others providing care are already over-stretched. Patients may be anxious about their condition and treatment. They may not, for a variety of reasons, read leaflets or letters sent or given to them. This does not mean our obligations to respect patients by keeping them informed and seeking their agreement can be ignored. Openness about how health care professionals work and partnership with patients are essential to the continued trust of the public in the professions. The challenge is not to answer the question whether we need consent but rather how we can best obtain it.

Access to Information↗
PubMed2002

NHS politics. Winging it.

At present, NHS managers are highly constrained, suffering excessive regulation and central control. More autonomy for trusts would mean fewer directives and less performance management. Giving trusts a new organisational form, such as a public interest company or foundation hospital, might be reinvigorating and would not involve further reorganisation. These new freedoms should be accompanied by new accountabilities, not solely to politicians but to independent NHS regulators, local communities and patients. Devolved power and greater patient choice could produce a more responsive NHS. Its potential needs to be explored through experimentation and evaluation.

Community Health Planning↗
PubMedDate not supplied

'The second greatest benefit to mankind'?

In 1739 Samuel Johnson wrote an essay on the life of Dr Hermann Boerhaave, Professor of Physic at the University of Leiden, who died in 1738. Boerhaave, born 11 years after Harvey's death, could be said to have been influenced by Harvey in that he favoured experimental natural philosophy as the gateway to scientific medicine. He was denied entry into the church because he was accused wrongly of being a follower of the philosopher Baruch Spinoza, regarded as a heretic because he criticised established religious practices; this in spite of strongly supporting the love of God and humanity. Boerhaave decided to become a physician as he was, in Johnson's words, 'equally qualified for a profession, not indeed of equal dignity or importance, but which must undoubtedly claim the second place amongst those which are the greatest benefit to mankind'. It is this claim that I wish to examine. Can we still claim this regard for our profession? Is the medicine we practise, and the way we practise, of the greatest benefit to mankind, and how do we ensure that it is?

Education, Medical↗